The present invention relates generally to a removable folding seat, and more specifically to a removable folding seat suitable for use in automobiles.
Conventionally, several types of seats for vehicles, such as automobiles, with the folding function and the removing function have been proposed and practically used. With those seats, the space within a compartment of the vehicle can be efficiently used.
As an example of a seat equipped with such folding and removing functions, a description thereof will hereinafter be made in reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
In these figures, 101 is a seat, provided in the compartment of an automobile, which comprises a seat back 102, a seat cushion 103, and a seat leg portion 104. 105 denotes a floor of the automobile.
Multiple latch mechanisms, engageable with front and rear strikers (not shown) secured to the floor 105, are provided on the front lower portion 104A and rear lower portion 104B of the seat leg portion 104. When the seat 101 is in an ordinary seating position, the seat 101 is locked to the floor 105 by the latch mechanisms.
The rear latch mechanism, provided on the rear lower portion 104B of the seat leg portion 104, can be removed from the rear striker. For instance, if a folding lever (not shown) is operated, the engagement between the rear lower portion 104B and the rear striker will be released.
The front latch mechanism, provided on the front lower portion 104A of the seat leg portion 104, is rotatable and removable with respect to the front striker. In other words, this front latch mechanism functions as a removable hinge. With this hinge function, the seat 101 is rotatable forward around the front lower portion 104A which serves as an axis of rotation, by releasing the engagement between the rear striker and the rear lower portion 104B.
Furthermore, the seat 101 can be removed from the floor 105 by releasing the engagement between the front striker and the front lower portion 104A and the engagement between the rear striker and the rear lower portion 104B.
As shown in FIG. 10, the seat 101 is provided with a removing lever 121 for disengaging the front latch mechanism provided on the front lower portion 104A from the front striker. The engagement between the front lower portion 104A and the front striker can be released by operating the removing lever 121 while the seat 101 has been folded, whereby the seat 101 can be removed from the floor 105.
When the above-mentioned seat 101 is folded, initially the seat back 102 is reclined in a direction of arrow "a" in FIG. 9 and folded onto the seat cushion 103. Then, the engagement between the rear lower portion 104B and the rear striker is released by operating the folding lever (not shown). Furthermore, if the rear end portion of the seat cushion 103 is tilted up with respect to the front lower portion 104A, the entire seat 101 will be rotated in a direction of arrow "b". In this manner, the seat 101 is caused to be in a folded state, as shown in FIG. 10, and the luggage compartment of the vehicle is substantially enlarged.
Note that the position of the seat 101 in the folded state will hereinafter be referred to as the folding position.
If, in the state in which the seat 101 shown in FIG. 10 is in the folding position, the engagement between the front lower portion 104A and the front striker can be released by the operation of the removing lever 121, and the entire seat 101 can be removed from the floor 105.
As described above, with the seat folding and removing functions, the luggage compartment space can be varied according to the quantity of luggage.
The aforementioned conventional seat, however, has the following problems.
For instance, the seat 101 shown in FIG. 10 is prevented from tilting forward by a guide plate 110, but, since the seat 101 does not have any lock mechanism to hold the seat 101 in the folding position, the seat 101 is not reliably held in the folding position. Therefore, the seat 101 may return to the seating position when the vehicle is started or accelerated.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 11, if the seat 101 is provided with a lock mechanism 115 for holding the seat 101 in the folding position, the seat 101 will be prevented from returning to the seating position when the vehicle is started or accelerated.
The lock mechanism 115 is constituted, for example, as a self-lock mechanism which locks the seat 101 to the floor 105 in the folding position if the seat 101 is rotated from the seating position to the folding position.
However, the lock mechanism 101 shown in FIG. 11 requires two levers: a release lever 120 for releasing the lock mechanism 115 and a removing lever 121 for releasing the engagement between the front lower portion 104A and the front striker. Therefore, when removing the seat 101 from the floor 105, the two levers 120 and 121 must be operated at the same time and thus the operation becomes complicated.
In European Patent No. 0 546 908 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,245 a removable folding seat is disclosed.
However, the seat disclosed in FIG. 1 of European Patent No. 0 546 908 (or U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,245) has no lock mechanism for locking the seat reliably to the floor when the seat is in the folding position. The seat disclosed in FIG. 2 of European Patent No. 0 546 908 (or U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,245) can be removed from the floor only when it is in a particular position between the seating position and the folding position. Therefore, the seat disclosed in European Patent No. 0 546 908 (or U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,245) also has the above-mentioned problems.